26 November 2011 (Haley and I's Birthday!!!)

Well, today was good :) I did surprisingly little but it was a most excellent birthday nonetheless. I was awoken by my little brother Anthony calling me to wish me a happy birthday, and then while I was talking to him my dad called, and then while I was talking to him my twin called. haha so it was great getting woken up by birthday wishes.

After I got up I just kept texting back friends and talking to my family and a few friends who called to wish me a happy birthday too. Not much happened till my parents told me to make sure I was home and then I got a huge delivery from a local bakery and sweet shop full of all kinds of sweet goodies. I was so surprised! I don't think I have ever had so many sugary things at once before! Needless to say, much sharing has yet to occur.

After that I was trying to get people to accompany me to the temple because I really wanted to go, but nobody was really free. That is until about 3:30 or 4:00 my friend Kelsey came over to wish me a happy birthday and it turns out she was driving to the Mount Timpanogas temple and invited me along. So off we went!

The temple was really cool. I think it is the largest one I have ever been in and done work in, but the baptistry was much smaller than that of the Provo temple. But that doesn't surprise me too much because hundreds, maybe even thousands of names are done every day in Provo. We stopped at Krispy Creme on the way back and got a free doughnut apiece and then I went home and Kelsey went back to her family's home.

So, at last I was left to my own devices and I contemplated doing homework, but instead I decided to eat some sweets and read. I proceeded to do so till the mid to late evening when I got another call from a friend, and then another friend of mine Ben came over to hang out and say hi. So we went back to his place after eating more sweets (I think I am going to gain weight now xD) and started Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. Before we had the movie all figured out, Lauren and a friend of hers showed up, and they wished me a happy birthday too. I ended up going over to her place for an hour and watched part of "Hot Rod." Honestly, I don't really recommend it.. but it was good to see Lauren.

After that I returned to Ben's apartment and we watched another hour or so of Return of the King (Extended Edition) until we hit disc two, at which point we decided sleep would be best. So that was that and I went home. After eating more sweets I decided to try to do 150 push-ups before getting in the shower and heading to bed. I am done with 50, have 100 more to go, and after writing this I think I am ready. So, off I go! I need some sleep after all. And I can't thank enough all the people who made my birthday so special :) It was great even though I didn't actually have a party or anything! My friends and family are the best. That is all.

And Happy Birthday once more to my twin sister Haley! You make me happy! :) It is my pleasure to share our birthday :)

Thanksgiving! (24 November 2011)

Well it has been a while since I have posted! Sorry about that. Things have gotten really busy, but I am going to try to do better on here. Well, today is thanksgiving and that is wonderful :) I absolutely love the Holidays, and this one in particular is always extra-special because of my twin sister whose birthday always lands on or near Thanksgiving. So it's really cool because we always have two birthdays and thanksgiving in my family this time of year, and I just love it :) Sadly I am not home this year, but it will still be fun. And I still love that I can talk to my family! I love them so much :)

Well, not much has happened since my last posts except lots of fun with good friends and lots and lots of homework. Although, I have learned ever increasingly just how much the Lord loves us all. He really does, and he watches out for us. One of my teachers said, "The majority of things the Lord blesses us with go unnoticed." This is so true. We don't fully comprehend just how much he has given us all, even those of us who seem to have nothing. Indeed you could say he has given us everything since he has prepared a way for everyone to return to him. I just love him so much I can't not say it. And I want everyone to know he does too! I am so thankful to live in a time where I can share the gospel like we can today, and I can't wait for every opportunity to do it!

I just want everyone to know how much I love them and how grateful I am for them all. The people I know, my good friends and my family, have helped me in so many ways a lot of them on't even know. Whenever I am down or feeling alone, there is always someone out there willing to give love and help. And I just can't express how thankful I am to you my good friends. This includes my family because indeed you have become my good friends. You have helped me be the person I am, and you make it so much easier for me to do what is good and right. Thank you so much! I want to be a person anyone can turn to when they need it too, so never hesitate to ask anything of me :) If it is in my power and it is good, I will do it!

Well, I don't have much to say about recent events haha. I feel like any autobiographical information just pales in comparison with the love and gratitude I feel for all of the people in my life and for my God. I can never repay what has been given me, but that is alright. I will keep doing what I know is best.

So, I am going to my friend Amanda Echols' home for today with some more of my good friends Jared, Roland, and Cameron. It will be so fun! And so good :) They are all excellent people. Well, I must be off now! Be true to yourselves, and most of all to God! You know what is right, just do it and don't deny that you do. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and that you can be at least as happy as I am! :)

8 November 2011

And finally, I am at today. Haha the week feels like it has been so long already, but it has scarce begun! Well I did the same ol' routine today again, I got up and went to class at eight, and got home about 13 hours later after being in classes and labs all day. Phew. The like of an Electrical Engineering Major. Glorious. haha I am surprised I survived. 


I did though have weight training today, which was really fun. I really like the exercise now and it feels good more than it hurts so it is enjoyable. I also have a very nice partner whose name is Sarah. She is really smart (like no joke), speaks fluent Swedish, and has more scholarships than me. Haha quite the girl. She is really nice too so it is always fun to be pushing each other and to try to out-do each other when we train, and at the same time joke about classes or getting up early or whatever else comes to mind to keep us from thinking about the pain. Haha a very effective strategy. But, another good side effect is that I will actually push myself when I don't think too much about it, and I am getting a lot stronger for it. 


After that I did a lab report and watched most of devotional, although I didn't get much of it due to my split attention. I need to work on that. Next week I will be there or be a lot more focused. After devotional was Circuits lab, which was good but is usually somewhat tiring seeing as it lasts for three straight hours and we don't always finish on time even with that. Luckily my lab partner Merry and I did finish on time! 


Something random but funny to think about: Out of 35+ students in that one section of Circuits, there are only 3 girls. And one is my lab partner! Haha what are the odds. Well, I guess they were pretty good. I already knew her from previous classes (Physics) and she probably thought I was really smart, so we agreed to be lab partners. It is nice though, she is a very kind person and is quite sharp. She keeps me on my toes when we do the labs, because if I mess up she will almost always catch it. And she is faster than me a lot too.


Well, after Circuits lab I went to my Computer Systems lab. Today we had to program an lcd screen to display tow dice and simulate rolling them with a random number generator. The lab wasn't terribly difficult, but due to it's nature and my sleep-deprived mind, it ended up taking about 6 hours. Fun fun. But the end product is really cool, so it was worth it. And my friend Eric Smith and I both got even more extra credit. So we have something like 125% for labs, which is about half of the grade in that class. So this is good.


I rode my bike home in the freezing air, and decided to stop by apartment 11 in Foxwood and say hi to Elizabeth, Katie, Patti, Nichole, and Elise. It turns out they were watching the movie "She's the Man" so I stayed and watched the last hour with them. It is a pretty funny movie. After that we were all tired so I came home, and made dinner, and started writing. 


One note: I have to stop by Belmont #24 and say hi to those good friends. It feels like it has been entirely too long, despite running into Chella in the computer lab. Well well, that's that. I think now I will get some sleep as soon as possible. Good night!

7 November 2011

Happy Monday! Everybody loves Mondays! Haha well this one wasn't too bad. I got up usual time and went to classes all day till about 1:30PM when I got home and promptly accidentally fell asleep on my bad. Haha. Not too regrettable though, it was really nice to get some extra rest. I woke up at about three I think, and did some homework till I had to leave again for class at four. Right before I left we were given a frozen Lasagna to cook for our fhe activity, so I put that in and went back to campus.

I got home with about five minutes to spare, pulled out the Lasagna, and went to fhe. We had dinner as a ward which was super good (I haven't been full of such delicious food all that often in college haha) and afterward there was a fireside given by a very prestigious bible scholar. He talked about the parables of the New Testament, but I had heard most of what he said before in my New Testament class. It was still good though. When it was over I helped clean up and then Derek and I went home. I stayed up and did the rest of the homework I had to, did some reading, and then got ready for and went to bed. What an exciting day! Right? haha

6 November 2011

Well, it is now Tuesday night, almost Wednesday, but I refuse to get too far behind! I must write while memories are fresh. If I remember correctly, Sunday was our stake conference. The stake presidency decided that this conference would be special in that they would try to utilize as many youth speakers as possible, and they sure succeeded. We heard from a few students from the various wards, including Charlie from our own ward. I don't remember specifics without going and looking in my notebook, but I do remember that it was really good. And my good friend Katie Pike played the organ most magnificently! It was super cool.

We got out at about five, and I found out there was also a CES fireside that night, and that President Packer would be speaking. Marcos really wanted to go to the Marriott Center, and I was about neutral in the matter, so we decided to go in person despite Marcos' leg injury (The results of a surgery to fix a torn ACL). We were nigh to exiting the Villa when we saw some friends and they thankfully gave us a ride. The fireside was, needless to say, good, and afterward we made way to head home.

The parking lot was full to capacity, so it was a long time getting out. I spotted my good friend and old fhe sister Emily Eggett in her car stuck in traffic all alone, so I hoped in with her and rode back with her.

Next was ward prayer. It was the Bishop's daughter's birthday, and our ward threw her a surprise party. It was way fun! She looked like she enjoyed it too. I just talked with Marcos, Amy, Lauren, and a few other people and ate a little but not much, and just enjoyed the company and finally feeling at home in the ward. I was invited to watch a movie at Hope's place, but I didn't end up making it. Instead, I went to someone else's apartment with Derek and a few other people from the ward showed up and we played some games.

The first game we played was Egyptian war. I don;t know why, but it seems inevitable that everyone either gives up or combines against me when we play this game. I have only been defeated two or three times in the last three to four-ish years, so I am pretty good, but everyone sure loves to not play for long with me haha. But all is well. Afterward we played signs and that was fun.

After about an hour it was late, so I left with everyone else and then walked around and said hi to Hope and a few pother people I met on the way. It was really late by now, so I went home and eventually went to bed.

5 November 2011

Well I guess you could say I had a pretty average Saturday. Average for me that is haha which means I didn't accomplish anything I wanted to. I really need to work on that... But it was a good day in the end. I didn't do all the linear algebra I needed to and I didn't study like I had wanted, but I will make up for it during the week. I am writing this post a little late (Today being Sunday, so you can see what I mean by I didn't accomplish anything that I had wanted to) SO there may be a little overlap between this post and whatever I write for today. Well, we just had an excellent stake conference so I am like 100x more motivated to do what needs done. ANYWAYS, back to Saturday, I will expound on today's event later today, when I can complete a full record of the day.

SO, the day started off kinda slow, I woke up kinda late because I haven't been sleeping enough, and I did some cleaning or something.. I don't recall. I just remember that I hadn't accomplished as much as I wanted. So the day passed away until five o'clock when I started getting ready for our first session of stake conference. It was awesome! We had good speakers and heard from the stake patriarch who talked a lot about the Savior's love for each of us.


Also, something funny, one of the members of the stake presidency gave all of the RM's in the stake the assignment to ask a girl out by the following Saturday at 10:00 PM, and that the date be completed by the Saturday after that at midnight, and that it should cost no more than five dollars. Haha it was great.

After stake conference I went home and was just sitting on my couch when Derek got back and he asked me if I was going to come to the party with him. I was just like, party?? Sweet! And then I remembered that there was a post-Halloween party being thrown for our ward, so I went with Derek to see if there was any food. As it turns out there was (All complete junk food but still really good :D ) and there were only about ten or fifteen people there, none of which I knew terribly well, but we ended up having lots of fun.

Wallace and Grommet was playing silently in the background, as we played the opening game, which was "Tape the mustache on Beiber." It was played very similarly to pin the tail on the donkey, only was way better because you had to laugh the whole time when someone unknowingly gave him a uni-brow, or chest hair, or a goatee. Haha it was great. After that we played two variations of Swedish Twister (Which is SUPER FUN!) and I made it to the winning pair both times.

What made it really fun though was the people. I knew who they all were but I had never really hung out with most of them before. Two of them, Amy and Marissa, are my home-teachees, and then three more of them, Tegan, Lauren, and Natalie were there roommates. There was also two of my friends form the ee program, Ben and Alex, and then another Ben (Who is like 6 inches taller than me!) and a few other guys but I don't remember their names. The party was fun and towards the end involved lots of jumping and flipping onto a giant bean-bag and then ping-pong, pool, and fose-ball (Does anybody know how to spell that?? fooze? fuz? I have no idea xD).

I am really starting to like the new ward, and I really love getting to know more people. People are awesome, and there is never any shortage of cool people to get to know. Amy my home-teachee is really nice and fun. I am glad I am her home teacher.

Her roommate Lauren is also super nice. She is one of the sort that can just smile and be perfectly happy, and you can just tell how kind she is by the look in her eyes. I meet a lot of people like that here at BYU actually, but it was so nice to meet yet another. 

There was an awkward couple in the hot tub outside, and Lauren had the idea for us all to jump in with them so they couldn't be awkward with each other. After convincing the rest of the group we were with, we all ran home and changed and came back. Mind you this was at about midnight, and that it was near freezing temperatures (It snowed later that night). So there we all were in the middle of a freezing night hot tubbing. It was surprisingly fun.

Eventually a ton more people came so the hot tub was pretty full, so we all left and went home. I went to bed shortly thereafter. And that's that! A fun night, and I got to meet some more really cool people.

4 November 2011

Yay for Friday! My Friday classes are super easy, but still fulfilling, so that was good. I got back a linear algebra test, not much happened other than me not doing as well as I had hoped, but I will just work harder next time. Classes went by fast and I found myself at home cooking. I made some delicious dinner and saved it for later.

About four Britta and I got together and went to the temple and saw Camille and a bunch of other friends on the way. The temple was packed and we had to wait just to sit down. I ended up sitting by my religion professor, Brother Griffin, and talking to him and his wife for a while. When Britta got out of confirmations we sat together and talked for a while we waited, and I practiced my Spanish by translating some scripture. Turns out my translation isn't too bad, but I certainly am rusty. Also, something interesting I found out today, Hannah Rackham speaks fluent Spanish! haha I was so surprised, she speaks better then me.

After the temple Derek and I, and Britta, Hannah, Chella, Camille, Kenzie, and Shayli went to a Mexican food place on University Avenue and had dinner. It was really fun, and afterwards Britta and I headed over to a movie and saw RED. It was alright, a little language and some violence, but it was good. Chella joined us at our friend Clayton;s apartment and we got to play with the Kinnect, which, by the way, is super cool and was super fun.

So that was that! A good day. Had lots of fun with with good friends, and now I am writing this blog. haha fun fun. Well, hopefully I will get lots done tomorrow and have fun again! That would be nice. Well, I would like to leave on a positive note, and my writing is dull right now because I am so tired, so I'll leave you all a scripture: John 16:33. It is so good! Well, peace be unto you and good night my friends! :)

3 November 2011

Well today was fun. I got through a programming lab for linear algebra and a chapter of circuits homework, which is much more productive than I normally am, although I didn't do as much other work as I wanted.

For linear algebra I had to determine the eigenvalue closest to zero for sparse tri-diagonal matrices of varying dimensions, and then find the limit of the number that is the result of multiplying the eigenvalue closest to zero by the square of the dimension. Very interesting, though I am not entirely sure why such a thing is useful to know.

For circuits, I did a LOT of complex and phaser analysis of RLC circuits, which isn't terribly hard and is also interesting, so that was good. The only sad part is that my calculator, a TI 84 Plus, is no longer capable of doing all the math I need it to do, so the homework would have been nigh impossible, but thankfully I also have the full solutions guide (Which is used WITH permission just to clear things up). Other than that, not much went on. I cooked, attended my hour of circuits, and did some reading.

There is one big thing that happened today: I am beginning to seriously contemplate changing my major from Electrical Engineering to a dual major of  Computer Science and either Physics or Applied Physics, with a Math minor. It wouldn't be hard to do, and even if I added both programs, I would be less than a semester behind in either, which I could make up for in Winter.

I had a very good and involved conversation with Marcos about majors, which ones are hard, why they are hard, why High School was so much easier and sometimes feels like it teaches you more, and why we are pursuing our majors the way we are. An excellent conversation which I really enjoyed. Marcos really is one of my best friends, and I am always so glad I have a friend who is so smart and thinks about and relates to things the same way I do for the most part.

In lieu of our discussions about missions, friends, school, majors, etc, we started talking about patriarchal blessings, and just how valuable they are. I am so inspired by mine, and it contains so many wonderful things I don't know what I would do with out it. It has definitely given me motivation and guidance when I have really needed it. And comforted me about some of the things I would otherwise be very prone to worry about. I decided I could have survived without it, but life would not be nearly as certain for me or as guided, and I probably wouldn't feel like I was doing the right things. And I would worry about a lot more I think. Anyhow, anyone who doesn't have one should get one; Anyone who has one should read it. They are amazing.

Well, it's late and I need to go to bed, so I'll go ahead and save this. Thanks for reading! If you are family or a really good friend, then maybe you will be able to read my full entries someday.  I decided I will only post the less personal things on here, but include all the details in my actual journal. There really is some good stuff in there. I like writing I have discovered. And I hate forgetting. So this is good because I feel like this blog will let me finally succeed at having a proper journal, and I have wanted to do one so bad for so long! Well, that's that.

Good night!